By Vicki Hess

As humans, we need to connect. This is a critical part of the leader’s role in engaging employees. 

But the news is bleak when it comes to connecting…here are a just few of the findings from a survey which Cigna conducted of 20K+ U.S. adults:

• Nearly half of Americans report sometimes or always feeling alone or left out.
• One in four Americans rarely or never feel as though there are people who really understand them.
• Two in five Americans sometimes or always feel that their relationships are not meaningful and that they are isolated from others.
• One in five people report they rarely or never feel close to people or feel like there are people they can talk to.

“The findings reinforce the social nature of humans and the importance of having communities. People who are less lonely are more likely to have regular, meaningful, in-person interactions; are in good overall physical and mental health; have achieved balance in daily activities; and are employed and have good relationships with their coworkers.”

What are you doing in your role to promote positive connections?

When I talk to leaders about Creating Connections, I hear about two types:

1. Chance Connections
2. Conscious Connections

Chance Connections
Chance Connections are those that are reactive in one way or another. Having an Open-Door Policy is an example. It’s good but doesn’t set a very high bar. Have you ever heard of an organization with a “Closed Door Policy”?

Here’s what usually happens…you open your door and sit and wait (and mostly hope that no one stops by so that you can get your “real work” done uninterrupted – haha). It’s important to be accessible. So, keep your door open and understand that you are leaving the connection to chance.

The second type of Chance Connection is rounding. In this case, you are the interruption to the staff member. Staff are in the middle of their “real work” and you’re stopping by might be a welcome break or an annoying inconvenience.

Don’t get me wrong, rounding is very important because not only do you make connections, you also get a visual of how things are going. Keep rounding with staff, just know that you are still leaving the connection to chance.

Conscious Connections

The most powerful kind of connection is a Conscious Connection – where both you and the team member are proactive and prepared. This happens in a One-on-One (1:1) Meeting (either virtually or in-person).

One question I routinely ask leaders in my client needs assessment is “What do you know you should be doing related to engagement and aren’t and why? I’ve asked this question to thousands of leaders and the number one thing they aren’t doing is meeting one-on-one with team members.

Many leaders struggle with making Conscious Connections.

The number one reason why they aren’t doing it is that “there isn’t enough time.” In follow up conversations, I hear the second reason it’s not happening is that there’s a perception that it’s not worth the time.

Of course, these two challenges go hand in hand. If you don’t think something is worth your time, then you aren’t going to make time for it.

Make Time for Meetings

Here’s one thing I know. Your actions and behaviors reflect your beliefs and mindsets. If you believe that meeting 1:1 with your direct reports is important – you will make the time.

Try these ideas:

1. Identify your biggest time wasters (email, unnecessary meetings, distractions that are urgent but not important).
2. Determine which time wasters you can eliminate to free up the time to spend with your team.
3. Put Conscious Connections on your calendar. Stop thinking these meetings will happen on their own.
4. Get creative for how to have 1:1 meetings using technology. FaceTime; Zoom and Go to Meeting are all ways to virtually meet with members of your team. Ask IT for help if you’re not familiar with what’s available.

Make the Meetings Worthwhile 

What makes a 1:1 meeting so powerful is that both you and your direct report are prepared for the conversation. It’s a Conscious Connection. That alone adds to the value.

Try these ideas:

1. Share your “Why” related to 1:1 meetings. Why are they important to you? Why will the employee benefit from them?
2. Share the agenda in advance to give everyone a chance to think about it.
3. Use the Satisfaction Snapshot ™ as a conversation starter. This tool is a powerful way to change the conversation about engagement…and who is responsible for it.

Now is the time to create Conscious Connections and positively impact engagement – yours and your team’s. Enjoy!

Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to make your healthcare event a success!

By Vicki Hess

​Have you ever noticed how feelings of joy might be fleeting, but anger seems to stick around? I’m working on a new keynote about resilience called Journey to Joy™ and this process has me thinking a lot about joy and anger.

We have all experienced anger at work. According to Science of People, “psychologists have discovered that there are three causes of anger:

1. Our desires, goals or expectations are not met.
2. We feel threatened.
3. We’re trying to hide other emotions.”

It’s easy to see how healthcare professionals in all roles can experience these causes at work…especially #1.

​When you’re angry your body releases stress hormones that lead to a fight or flight response. Over time, if anger persists, these hormones can lead to headaches, increased blood pressure and more. The external ramifications of anger may also include damaged relationships and work-related performance issues.

When you’re cool, calm and collected, this all makes sense but in the heat of the moment, when your hot buttons are being pushed, it can be difficult.

What most folks want to know is what to do with the anger. It’s not good to ignore those feelings. Repressing the anger can lead to a bigger burst down the road and that’s not healthy either.

My suggestion is to SHIFT from anger to joy. Some of you have heard me speak or read my work about SHIFTing your POWs to WOWs and these steps may look familiar.

Here are 5 steps to shrink the anger and choose joy:

• Stop and breath.
• Harness your harmful knee-jerk reactions.
• Identify and manage your negative emotions.
• Find new options.
• Take one positive action.

Now it’s your turn to choose Joy! See you in Professional Paradise.

Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to make your healthcare event a success!

By Vicki Hess

Have you heard of any these lately?

“It’s not fair!”
“My boss is never around – how can she understand?”
“You’ve got to be kidding, they want us to do what?”
“Wah, Wah, Wah”

I’m running into a lot of overworked people these days. People everywhere are reporting higher productivity goals, longer working hours and less satisfying work. It’s a big bummer!

I get it. I have bad days at work too. Yes, even though I talk about being the Chief Paradise Officer (CPO) of my job, I still get bogged down in the “work” part of work every now and again. It’s no fun.

Sometimes I forget I can be in the driver’s seat and steer my work experience in any direction I want. Sound familiar?

Guess what? It doesn’t matter that crummy things happen at work. Unfortunately, unless you’re in charge of everything (and even sometimes when you are), you probably can’t do anything to put a stop to all the frustrations that pop up.

Of course, you should spend time using process improvement efforts to minimize challenges that are within your control…who wouldn’t want to do that? But, the Blame Game has never been one of my favorites.

Let’s talk about boosting your own job satisfaction by getting the driver’s seat.

I have a morning meditation practice. Recently, the guided meditation was about promoting inner happiness. I love that. I love connecting to someplace WITHIN ME – not having to count on anyone else – to find my own joy and well-being. Don’t you? If you aren’t sure how to meditate, check out Insight Timer – a free app for meditating that is super easy to use and has meditations from 1 minute to many.

Here are several easy to implement, high impact ideas for taking back control of your own job satisfaction and engagement. Pick a few that seem realistic to incorporate into your life RIGHT NOW so that you too, can officially claim the title of Chief Paradise Officer!

1)  Take Good Care of Yourself
◦    Meditate (see the link above)
◦    Stretch (your body and mind)
◦    Do fun things (whatever that means to you)
◦    Read (inspirational books)
◦    Sing (songs that make you Happy)
◦    Run around (playing sports, chasing kids, by yourself)
◦    Relax (without electronics)
◦    Sleep (make it a priority and create positive routines)
◦  Create Gratitude Triggers™ (every morning or night write down 5 things you are grateful for)
◦    Believe (in whatever makes you feel grateful and joyful)
​
2)  Decide to be the Chief Paradise Officer of your Life
◦    Believe (that it’s possible to enjoy work)
◦    Smile (fake it until you make it)
◦    Be nice to others (they are struggling too)
◦    Stop complaining (no one wants to hear about it)
◦    Breathe (over and over, deeply)
◦   Quit taking things personally (unless you’ve been really mean, it’s not personal)
◦    Take a break (you deserve it and you’ll do better work if you take one)
◦    Give yourself permission to be happy (put that skip back in your step)
Let me know how you improve your job satisfaction - I’m interesting in hearing from you!

Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us today to make your healthcare event a success!

By Vicki Hess

If you're a leader, you're spending time and money on employee engagement whether you mean to or not. You are either doing it reactively or proactively.

In the reactive mode, you end up spending time with "Chain Gang Members" (my term for disengaged employees) listening to complaints or coaching for improvement again and again. When things continue to go downhill, you end up managing turnover and all of it's associated costs and headaches.

Think this isn't costing you money? Think again!

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, when a nurse whose annual compensation and benefits are $75,000 decides to leave the organization, the total cost is $41,000!

Still think you don't have time? Think again!

The other option is to proactively address employee engagement. Here's what that looks like.
​

1. Stop talking about employee engagement for the organization. There's lots of data that proves that engagement is good for business; however, most employees aren't motivated by higher productivity, better quality and safety or decreased costs. People don't talk about employee engagement with their friends and family. It's a management buzzword that aggravates folks. It's often associated with everyone's favorite..."doing more with less".
2. Start talking about Professional Paradise™ for the employee. Professional Paradise isn't about winning a best place to work award or providing free lunch. It's an inside job where employees have beliefs and mindsets that drive positive actions and outcomes. The benefits of engagement for individuals are vast. When members of the team are satisfied, energized & productive, they experience better health, more energy and positive connections with others.
3. Stop making generalized connections with the team. "Great Job!" and "Thanks" shared at team meetings are a good start, but not enough. Many nurse managers have 50+ direct reports working multiple shifts 24/7. It's easy to get to know the team who works the same hours are you do and more challenging to get to know others.
4. Start making personalized connections. Having regular one-on-one meetings is one of the highest ROI activities a leader can do. Not sure what to do at the meeting or what to talk about? There are many free tools for that here. Rounding with staff is also time well spent. Be yourself and ask questions and really listen. You don't have to own all the solutions. Invite others to problem solve along side of you.
5. Stop dreading engagement. It's not so bad. Hopefully part of what makes you feel satisfied, energized & productive is helping your team grow and develop. When you think of engagement as "something extra" it can be overwhelming.
6. Start weaving the Engagement Thread™into your daily activities. Ask this question the next time you are making changes at work. "How will this (fill in the blank) impact our employee's ability to be satisfied, energized and productive?"When you proactively address the issues, you are more likely to increase engagement over time. Shared governance and lean daily management are great process tools to get input about beliefs and mindsets as well as actions and outcome.

Hopefully you're starting to feel motivated to make employee engagement part of the fabric of what you do as a leader.

​Because if you think you aren't spending time and money focusing on it...think again!

Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us today to make your healthcare event a success!

By Vicki Hess

Happiness at work is a hot topic. You probably hear people talking about it in the hallways and break rooms. 

Whose job is it to make folks happy at work?
You won’t be surprised that I’m going to say that the primary responsibility lies with the individual (that’s you) to create his or her own Professional Paradise. In thoughtful moments, that’s the only logical response; however, there are times when senior leaders, managers, coworkers and customers/patients all impact the equation. As with most things at work, It’s a shared responsibility. Now that we have the responsibly piece cleared up, let’s get more specific. 

What are things that positively influence your ability to be satisfied, energized & productive?

Take a quick break. Stop what you’re working on and jot down your answers. To prompt your  brainstorming, here are two things that I frequently hear that positively influence someone’s ability to be satisfied, energized & productive:

1. Having the resources to do my job
2. Teamwork

Give yourself a few minutes to think. There’s no rush. Include at least 6 answers on your list. Go beyond the top of mind responses and dig a little deeper. The answers are different for everyone and there are no incorrect responses.

Now that you’ve made your list, the next step is to “code” the list according to who is responsible for each influencer.

M = Myself
L = My Leader
O = Organization/Senior Leaders
​
I recently asked this question at a workshop for healthcare leaders and frontline staff. We focused on the “M” and “L” categories because those are within the span of control of the participants. It’s fine to list things that are influenced by the Organization/Senior Leaders…you just have to be willing to follow up with those folks to prompt change in those areas.

Here’s the great news. The items that you listed with an “M” can be influenced TODAY and tomorrow and the next day. You’ve got the power to create your own Professional Paradise no matter what is happening around you and your coworkers do too.

Take it to the Team
​Imagine the power of this discussion with the whole team. Those Chain Gang Members (disengaged employees) will not like the responses that include an “M” because it’s always easier to point fingers and blame others for creating our own happiness at work. When you do that, you can remain a passenger who waits for others to fix everything. 

If you are reading this, I’m hoping you are a Chief Paradise Officer who wants to be in the driver’s seat. I’m hoping you are a leader who wants to support those on your team as they create their own Professional Paradise.

Wrapping up, the last step is to write down one or two things you could do today to be more satisfied, energized & productive. This can’t be something you need someone else’s help with. It’s all about you. Because at the end of the day, that’s the only person you can totally influence so why not start there.

Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us today to make your healthcare event a success!